Issue: Educators should take students' interests into account when planning the content of the courses they teach.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the
recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing
and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the
recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples
shape your position.

Essay:

Educators play a very important role in students’ successful or failing careers. The educator’s attitude towards a student influences the student’s perspective to view the society around him. The prompt recommends that educators should cater for students’ interests when planning the content of the course they teach. In my opinion, content should not be completely based on the students’ interests or completely design content that does not interest the students, balance between them must be found.

First, designing courses for students’ interests might not cover some of the most important topics in the subject. But having knowledge of such is crucial in our lives. For instance, History is not always an interesting subject mainly because remembering the historical dates and significance of the date or the role of the war fought that made our country what is it today. These topics might be dull for the students but knowing one’s roots is essential. Since the students lack interest, if the educators remove those topics from the content of the course, the student might be missing out on the knowledge of our roots.

Further, such altered courses might not be the same from school to school in the city which leads to inconsistency in the knowledge in the city or in the whole country. For example, if the student's parents got transferred to a different city or even a state, leading the student to change school, the content of the course he had to learn in the previous school might be completely different from the present one. This situation might lead a student to have incomplete knowledge, which is worse than not having knowledge in that course. If the course content is designed without considering the interest of the student, courses across the country might be the same and if any student changes schools does not encounter inconsistency in the knowledge.

However, considering students’ interests might make even lackluster topics in the subject animated. For instance, Science is one such subject that requires visualization for the student to grasp the concept and be in a position to use the concept for a practical application. In such cases, students’ interest might be to have practice for the concept learned or to have an animated video for the concept. Planning the course by adding practical or a session where the content is delivered with the help of animated videos into the curriculum piques the interest of the student and enables him to remember the concept for a longer time.

In conclusion, while there are some drawbacks to taking the students’ interests into account for planning the content of the course, there are a few advantages to designing courses for students' interests. This decision should be left to the educator, who knows which topic is required or not required, or the management of the school to make the course essential for the students.